Local

The Los Alamos Hilltopper girls basketball team came within four minutes of pulling off a gigantic upset Friday night at Griffith Gymnasium.

Los Alamos led the bulk of Friday’s contest against the No. 1 team in the state, the Santa Fe Demons, but the Demons started on a 12-2 run in the fourth quarter to pull out the victory, 53-47.

The game presented the Hilltoppers with a chance to earn a big leg up in the early portion of the District 2-4A season. Unfortunately, they couldn’t withstand Santa Fe’s powerful offense, which had struggled much of the game, pouring it on late.

Read more about Friday’s game in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Monitor.

Peter Brewer, going for a pin against Tierra Encantada’s Jorge Marquez, and the Hilltoppers will take part in the very tough Aztec Duals Saturday. Most of the top teams from the Four Corners area will be in action. Los Alamos is coming off a win at last week’s Pecos Invitational, at which Brewer finished second in the 220-pound weight division.

Tonight, the Los Alamos Hilltopper girls basketball team has a chance to set the tone in a big way for the remainder of the District 2-4A season.
After dismantling the Bernalillo Spartans in their 2-4A opener Tuesday night, the Hilltoppers take on the Santa Fe Demons at Griffith Gymnasium.
Los Alamos (11-8 overall, 1-0 in district), which has won two of three games under new head coach Ann Stewart, can take the early advantage in the district race, not to mention a huge psychological advantage over the rest of 2-4A, with a win tonight.
That win, however, isn’t going to come easily.
The Demons, at 17-0, are the only undefeated basketball team in the state of New Mexico, boys or girls, and are ranked No. 1 in this week’s Class 4A power ratings.
Santa Fe, which spent most of its first two years as an also-ran in district, came on last year to grab a runner-up finish and gave defending district champ Española Valley a serious run for its money.
Heading into this season, the Demons, with a very talented — and relatively young — group of players, were expected to make noise in 4A. What they’ve been is a rock band cranked all the way to 11.
Santa Fe is averaging a whopping 60.8 points per game while giving up less than 40 points per outing.

The local Knights of Columbus organization will host its annual Free Throw Championship Saturday.
The free throw contest will start at 1 p.m. at Griffith Gymnasium. It is open to boys and girls ages 10-14.
There is no charge for participation. Registrations will be accepted starting at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Parental consent is required and parents or guardians must be present during the competition.
Additional information can be obtained by calling 670-6717.

LALL hosting meeting at Mesa Public Library

An informational and organizational meeting for the upcoming Los Alamos Little League season is set for Tuesday.
The meeting will be at 6 p.m. It will be in Mesa Public Library’s third floor meeting rooms.
Anyone interested in coaching, helping organize or serving on the board for this year’s LALL season is invited to attend.

It was one of the best offensive performances of the season for the Los Alamos Hilltopper boys basketball team in its District 2-4A opener Wednesday night.
But, despite a red hot shooting night by the Hilltoppers, it wasn’t enough to keep pace with the even hotter Bernalillo Spartans.
The Spartans had six players connect from 3-point range in the game, including four big 3s in the second quarter to break the game open.
Bernalillo dropped in 25 second quarter points as it routed Los Alamos at Griffith Gymnasium, 74-51.
Los Alamos connected on 22 of 44 attempts from the floor, but Bernalillo was even better, hitting 29 of 50, including nailing 9 3-pointers.
After a good start to the contest defensively for the Hilltoppers, the Spartans started to stretch out their offensive formation. Along with some good passing around the perimeter, the Spartans also used the driving ability of guard Tristan Arnett to full effect.
As the first half wore on, Los Alamos was relegated to picking its poison on defense.
“We knew we had to do that,” Spartan head coach Terry Darnell said. “They play a very good shell defense. They play solid, so we had to move them around to get some easy buckets.”

The last registration session for the upcoming season of White Rock Little League baseball and softball is tonight. Registration will be at Time Out Pizza in White Rock from 6:30-8p.m.
All boys and girls between the ages of 4-18 are eligible to participate. Additional information is available by visiting eateamz.com/wrll2 on the Internet.

Caden Stilwell of the Los Alamos School of Gymnastics boys competitive team had a top-four finish at the Men’s Gold Cup Classic earlier this month.
The Gold Cup Classic was Jan. 5-6 in Albuquerque. In all, 11 teams and 115 competitors took part.
Stilwell finished fourth in the all-around competition in the Level 4 Junior Division for LASG.
En route to the finish, he earned a silver medal on parallel bars (9.65), floor exercises (9.35) and pommel horse (8.2). He also took bronze on vault (9.5).
In the Level 4 Senior Division, Dane Harris earned silver in the all-around with a 52.25. Harris won the vault competition with a 9.80, earned silver on floor (8.9) and pommel horse (8.20) and bronze on high bar (8.70).
In Level 5, Philo Shelton was the Tumblers’ highest scorer, earning silver in the all-around for the Senior Division with a 50.75. For his part, Shelton earned silver medals on still rings (9.50), pommel horse (8.70) and parallel bars (8.35) and took bronze on floor (8.45).
Teammate Daniel Fryer placed fourth all-around in the Level 5 Junior Division with 46.15. Fryer earned a silver medal on vault (9.40) and bronze on floor (7.95).

BERNALILLO — Just like it needed to, the Los Alamos Hilltopper girls basketball team picked up a big victory to open the District 2-4A season.
Los Alamos held the Bernalillo Spartans to just two points in the first quarter and dropped in 23 points in the second quarter to breeze to victory.
In the second half, the Hilltoppers liberally substituted their bench players but didn’t let the Spartans back into the contest.
McKenzie Logan and Kiana Zerr both turned in big performances for the second straight game as Los Alamos cruised to a 58-24 victory.
Logan and Zerr combined for 19 points in the first half as Los Alamos jumped out to a big lead early. Los Alamos opened the game on a 12-1 run, then in the second quarter, Zerr dropped in eight points to put the game on ice by the half.
Los Alamos got 9 of its 10 roster players in the scoring column, which it was it was hoping for out of Tuesday’s contest.
“That’s what we need to be successful in district,” said Hilltopper head coach Ann Stewart. “We need to get lots of people involved and not get one-dimensional.”
It was the second straight win for the Hilltoppers under Stewart, who has been head coach for just over a week.

The Los Alamos Hilltopper girls basketball team will take on the Bernalillo Spartans tonight in the opener of the District 2-4A season for both teams.
Los Alamos will travel to Bernalillo for tonight’s game. Game time is schedule for 7 p.m.
The Hilltoppers, coming off a big win over the Sandia Matadors Friday night, have an excellent chance to get their 2-4A season started on the right foot. The Spartans have struggled so far this season and are among the lowest-scoring teams in Class 4A, averaging less than 30 points per game.
The only win of the 2012-13 season for the Spartans (1-17) came against Dulce in late December. They have lost five straight since that game, including a 36-19 loss to Del Norte last week.
Last year, the Spartans gave the Hilltoppers fits, taking two of three meetings between the two teams, but the Spartans’ lineup last year was almost exclusively seniors. This season, the Spartans have five sophomores and just one senior listed on their roster.
Meanwhile, the Hilltoppers (10-8) are hoping the momentum from their 46-43 upset victory over Sandia carries over into the 2-4A season. Along with Bernalillo, Los Alamos will take on undefeated Santa Fe this weekend.